“Message of Reconciliation” by Lothar Graap based on texts communicating with Coventry Cathedral and its work for reconciliation. One the night of 14th November 1940 Coventry Cathedral was reduced to ruins by Germans bombs. The Very Reverend R. T. Howard, Provost of Coventry, wrote in his book Ruined and Rebuilt : “As I watched the Cathedral burning, it seemed to me as though I were watching the crucifixion of Jesus upon His Cross. After all, the Cathedral was not primarily a church belonging to man; it was the church of Jesus Christ. It was in some way a participation in the infinite sacrifice of the crucifixion of Christ … As I went with this thought in my mind into the ruined Cathedral on the morning after the destruction, there flashed into my mind the deep certainty that as the Cathedral had been crucified with Christ, so it would rise again with Him. How or when, we could not tell; nor did it matter. The Cathedral would rise again”. The next text is inscribed on a stone tablet set on the east side of the tower in the Ruins: “The glory of this letter House shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Haggai 2,9). And in the ruins of the Altar of Reconciliation in the sanctuary of the old Cathedral stands a Cross of Nails, made from three fourteenth century iron nails which fell from the blazing timber of the roof when it burned in the air raids. The Cross of Nails has become a world-wide symbol, not of destruction, but of reconciliation – of the need for forgiveness to heal the wounds of history. Behind the Cross of Nails stand the words “Father, forgive” (since 1941!). Here the Litany of Reconciliation – it was written in 1959 – since that year it has been recited every Friday at 12 noon: The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, Father, forgive”. Crucifixion (destruction) – Forgiveness and a new thinking – Resurrection (renewal), that is the main of the three parts of Triptych for organ and speaker by Lothar Graap. A new order has begun after destruction and a process of penance. But far more important than the reconstruction of the building was the establishment of a dynamic experimental twentieth century ministry among people, with reconciliation at its heart. The Community of the Cross of Nails is the world-wide expression of this vision. There is a promise for all of them working for peace, for understanding between people and nations, and for reconciliation: “Happy are those who work for peace. God will call them his family.” Helmut Gröpler (1935 –2002) Pastor at Monastery-Church in Cottbus
